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Center fielder Colby Rasmus of the St. Louis Cardinals dives but comes up short on a sinking line drive hit by J.R. Towles of the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on June 8, 2011 in Houston.Bob Levey

Jason Frasor endured eight seasons of one-year contracts with the Toronto Blue Jays before he wrote his name in the club's record book for the most appearances in franchise history by a pitcher, which he reached this past weekend.

Now Frasor will start anew with a new club, the Chicago White Sox, after the popular reliever was part of a three-team package deal completed on Wednesday that ultimately landed Toronto coveted centrefielder Colby Rasmus.

"Probably bittersweet," Frasor, 33, said in describing his emotions after learning he had been traded away by Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "Eight years, that's a long time. It's hard to leave this locker room, I've made a lot of friends, a lot of good buddies here. I've got a new coaching staff that I love and I only pitched for them for four months.

"I think Alex really has this team on the right track, I hope he stays the course. I really like what he's done. I don't blame him for making this trade."

The Jays got an early jump on the upcoming trade deadline frenzy on Wednesday when Anthopoulos started the dominos falling by agreeing to ship Frasor to the White Sox, along with highly-regarded pitching prospect Zach Stewart.

In return the Blue Jays received veteran starter Edwin Jackson along with infielder Mark Teahen.

Shortly after, the Blue jays flipped Jackson to the St. Louis Cardinals, along with relievers Marc Rzepczynski, Octavio Dotel, outfielder Corey Patterson and three players to be named later or cash considerations.

In return, the Blue Jays landed Rasmus along with relievers Trever Miller, P.J. Walters and former Blue Jay Brian Tallet.

But it was Rasmus that Anthopoulos had his eye on all along.

"We've asked about him a lot in the past," a weary-looking Anthopoulos said in a hastily assembled news conference Wednesday afternoon at Rogers Centre. "We'd asked about him a lot the last off-season, during the season. And the answer was always no."

A first-round selection of the Cardinals (28th pick overall) in the 2005 first-year player draft, Rasmus is in his third Major League season in St. Louis.

Last season Rasmus blossomed, batting .276 with 66 RBIs and 23 home runs.

This season the strong-willed Rasmus has butted heads with Tony La Russa and his numbers have faded somewhat, batting .246 with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs.

But Anthopoulos is convinced Rasmus will fit right in with Toronto.

"Great kid, obviously tremendously talented, a high round pick and has a lot of ability," Anthopoulos said. "And he fits so well to what we're trying to do. He's another middle of the diamond player who's controllable for a while.

"He's 24, he times well with all the other players we have here. And it's that two-way dynamic that we look for. He can run, he can throw, he's a five-tool talent. We think Colby's going to fit in great."

Anthopoulos said it was difficult to part ways with a veteran like Frasor, but it was the cost of getting the deal done.

Frasor knows it and is appeased somewhat that he will be returning to his hometown of Chicago to play -- even though he grew up a fan of the Cubs and not the White Sox.

"I can't believe it's Chicago, of all teams, of all cities," he said. "But there's a couple positives coming out of this. Going to a pennant race. I've never been in a pennant race. That's why we play, right, to try to win it all. That's very exciting.

"And it's probably the best-case scenario for my wife, my family. Now she has my family to lean on. We could have been shipped to Tokyo or something and we don't know anybody, we don't have any family."

When he pitched in Sunday's 7-2 loss to the New York Yankees, it was Frasor's 453rd appearance, a club record for a Jays pitcher.

Frasor is hoping he can begin a new legacy with the White Sox.

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